Tamil Nadu - Kancheepuram   

From entrepreneurs to master trainers

V. Venkatasubramanian

The success story of a women SHG from Gherukembakkam

A CLASS APART: A napkin manufacturing training programme for fisherwomen at Semmanchery being conducted by the Annai Therasa Women's Self-Help Group. — Photo: A. Muralitharan

KANCHEEPURAM: It is more than just a success story for them. After starting their career as ingenuous entrepreneurs, members of Annai Therasa women Self-Help Group of Gherukembakkam near Porur have now become master trainers in the economic activity which they took up two years ago.

After training in fashion technology and allied subjects at an institute at Chennai, D. Bhuvaneshwari, president, S. Nagalakshmi, treasurer, G. Lokanayaki, secretary and S. Suseela, a member, during September 2004, decided to try their luck in manufacturing napkins, using locally available cotton and non-plastic or synthetic raw materials, and fancy articles using jute.

A deep commitment and determination to excel in their field of activity saw them carve a niche for their napkins amidst consumers in semi-urban and rural pockets and for jute products among the higher-income group in Chennai.

"Within a year we got orders from private maternity homes and hospitals. Apart from this, we marketed our product through other women SHGs in Kancheepuram district by way of participating in exhibitions organised by government departments and as well as through door-to-door sales in and around our area," said Ms. Nagalakshmi.

Spreading their wings

Attracted by both the cost and comfort advantages of the activity, a women SHG at Vadapalani entered into a marketing agreement with the Annai Therasa WSHG.

Meanwhile, the Kancheepuram District Rural Development Authority, after studying the prospects of this particular economic activity, decided to encourage a few other women SHGs in the district to take up the napkin manufacturing activity.

"Subsequently, more than 150 women attached to various SHGs in Kancheepuram, Thiruvidanthai, Thirukazhukundram and Sriperumpudur were trained by us," said Ms. Bhuvaneshwari.

Training classes were also conducted for women SHGs at Cuddalore and Tiruvallur districts and in Puducherry, she added. Narrating how the group had elevated itself from mere entrepreneurs to master trainers, Ms. Nagalakshmi said a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) team, which paid the SHG a visit during a training programme conducted by the group at Thiruvidanthai, was impressed with the new idea of manufacturing napkins from safe raw materials.

"They engaged us as master trainers to teach the technique to women SHGs functioning in 24 States in the country. The UNICEF sponsored training programmes, covering women SHGs from 16 States in batches, which have already been conducted at an Institute at Poonamallee. The remaining batches will be trained in this activity during the last three days of this month," she added.

Impressed by the economic viability of the project, the Slum Clearance Board, implementing livelihood training programmes for fishermen under tsunami emergency assistance project (TEAP), engaged the Annai Therasa group to train 25 fisherwomen whose families were accommodated at a tsunami rehabilitation camp at Semmancheri near Sholinganallur, said TEAP project coordinator Alma.

Another victory

Meanwhile, the group's foray into manufacturing of candy toys using non-heat generating and suffocating materials turned successful with several fancy stores and departmental chain stores in Chennai coming forward to purchase these toys from Annai Therasa group.

"We started producing candy toys as a subsidiary activity. But, now, we have formed a separate wing for manufacturing these toys and other baby products," Ms. Nagalakshmi said. Similarly, the jute products manufactured by this group caught the attention of an exporter. "We successfully completed an export order for jewel boxes in jute, covered with silk and velvet inside the box," said Ms. Lokanayaki.

Files, bags and money purses are some of the regular jute items that the group has put up for sale at a shop in the Koyambedu mofussil bus stand.

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